Bedok MRT: 36 Chai Chee 2+1

Looking for ways to refresh your home interior? Thinking of where to begin? Let us dive into some interior trends that can shape your living space.

1. Ditch the sofas

In most homes, space constraint is a consideration when deciding on the right interior design. Gone are the days when sofas are a default item in your living room. Most homeowners are exploring smaller, movable seating options such as armchairs or even bean bags. This removes the visual clutter in the living room and provides more walking space.

2. Nature-inspired home

The balcony is often an overlooked area. If space allows, it is an ideal place for a restful evening. Enjoy the breeze that caresses on your tired face. The scenic view helps in alleviating the environmental stress as you pause for a moment to enjoy the tranquillity of nature. Some homeowners might put a swing chair and dedicate the area as a reading corner. Put some potted plants to soften the concrete look of your house. You might discover the corner as a sweet spot after your bedroom.

3. Be bold with your walls

Take a 360 view of your house and you might realise that the wall is one of the largest surface areas other than the floor. Therefore the greatest impact of change is to re-design the wall. Be bold equates to the design and colour theme. Conventional red brick wall might be the latest trend, consider having a white concrete wall that can portray a cooler touch to the environment.

4. Dynamic furniture

Furniture no longer serves as an accent item. They have increasingly used with multiple functionalities: a sofa that is transformed into a bed in a matter of minutes or a coffee table that can transform into a dining table. These “transformer” furniture set are a good addition. They reduce the number of items in your living space while fulfilling your life aspiration needs.

5. Have an appetite fordiverse material

Innovation in home furnishing focuses on the material that made up the item. Kitchen cabinet can have a diverse design with assorted laminate covering design. Other than parquet flooring, explore vinyl flooring which is waterproof. If the contemporary design is your cup of tea, metallic surface can be applied to your sofa material or a metallic frame for the ceiling spot light to add accent to space.

Good news to all users of noagentresidential.com.sg who are HDB flat buyers or sellers. In a press release by HDB, the process of buying and selling of HDB flats will be further streamlined come 1st Jan 2018. This was announced at the MND’s Committee of Supply in March 2017. Under the initiatives of the Real Estate Industry Transformation Map (REITM), this is part of HDB’s continuous efforts to streamline its resale transaction process thus reducing transaction time and providing added convenience to flat buyers and sellers. With the rising trend in HDB flat owners choosing to sell HDB flats themselves without engaging the service of a property agent, this piece of news cannot come at a better time and will further encourage HDB home owners to buy or sell their HDB flats by themselves.

The current procedure to sell hdb flat takes roughly 16 weeks to complete and require 2 appointments with HDB – the first appointment to work out the sellers’ sale proceeds and to assess the buyers’ financial plan and followed by a final second appointment to complete the resale transaction and signing of all legal documents. A current comprehensive guide can be found here at “How to Sell HDB Flat“.

With the new streamlined procedure due to be implemented on 1st Jan 2018, a new HDB Resale Portal will be launched. The new streamlined resale transaction process integrates all the eligibility checks on a single platform thus reducing transaction time to 8 weeks and once the online application is approved, HDB will arrange an appointment with both parties to complete the resale transaction thus reducing to only needing 1 appointment.

We will keep you updated once the new portal is launched. You can also read more from the HDB press statement.

Run out of parking coupons? Delay in activities resulting in parking fines? Fret no more, these problems will be a thing of the past. From 1st October 2017 motorists in Singapore can download Parking.sg app available for both iOs and Andriod. The new parking app allows for a fast and convenient to pay and renew parking charges at all of the 1,100 public car parks still using paper coupons. However, the app is currently only available for cars. It will subsequently be available to both motorcycles and heavy vehicles by the end of the year.

All that is required from the parking app is the carpark code number which will be displayed prominently at the entrance of the carparks and on kerbsides. Parking charges will be charged in blocks of 30 minutes. In the event where the parking session ends earlier, motorists will be refunded based on per minute charging. A notification will also notify the motorist if the parking session is about to expire and motorists can opt to extend if required.

The current paper coupons will not be phased out and will still remain in use. You can find out more about the app at parking.sg. Or visit HDB website on the news of the launch.

HDB resale prices have dropped by 0.1% throughout 2016. The Resale Price Index (RPI) has produced flash estimates for the flat resale prices. More data will be available on January 26, when the details Q4 details are released.

So far, the estimate is that Q4 of 2016 saw a 0.1% price drop from Q3. Despite this, the planned 17,000 new flats for 2017 are still going ahead. The HDB says that February will see the first 4,100 Build-To-Order flats in Woodlands, Punggol, Clementi, and Tampines. Others will follow after this.

The drop in Q4 follows the HDB resale prices staying the same in both Q3 and Q2. Q1 saw a 0.1% drop from the 0.1% rise in 2015, evening out the drop to just 0.1% throughout the whole of 2016 based on 2015.

The Housing Board provides information each quarter about the resale prices to help property investors make their buying and selling decisions.

The latest figures for private residential property prices have been released. These are for the fourth quarter in 2016, and continue the pattern noticed in the previous quarters of the same year. In fact, property prices have been declining for longer, but the decline has softened in 2016 compared to 2015.

13th Consecutive Quarter Decline

Q4 2016 followed the pattern for the previous 12 quarters. It dropped by 0.6 points, which equates to a 0.4% drop in house prices. This is a smaller drop than Q3, which saw a 1.5% decrease. Overall, the property prices dropped by 3.0% in 2016, compared to 2015’s 3.7%.

Core Central Region Performing Stronger

As many experts expected, the Core Central Region (CCR) performed better than the rest of the region. In Q4 the prices remained the same as Q3, which saw a 1.9% decline from Q2. Outside the CCR, prices decreased by 2%, which followed the 1% decrease from the third quarter.

Outside of the central region, prices also slipped. The slip was not as dramatic, seeing a 0.3% decrease compared to Q3’s 1% fall.

House Prices Are Supported

While the prices of properties have slipped, it isn’t a major concern for CBRE’s head of research, Desmond Sim. He shared that the land costs are higher and help to support the falling property prices. Developers are also seeing good balance sheets, preventing a wide panic over falling prices.

There is some concern for 2017, though. Interest rates look to rise, which puts more pressure on property prices. There may be a more of a fall in market prices because of these rates. The concerns are premature at the moment.

There are still plans to produce 17,000 new flats in 2017, which will be available for sale. The first will start in February.

November 25, 2016 saw a seller gain a $1.78m profit on a 999-leasehold terraced house. This came after buying the Huddington Ave home in April 2015. Once the 12% Seller’s Stamp Duty was taking out, the profit became $1.25m, which was a 48% profit based on the starting price. The house price was higher, but renovation and refurbishment costs have been taken out.

This isn’t the first time such a high profit has been noted. The largest profit percentage in that same week was from a Pandan Valley unit, which saw a 109% profit. The actual profit in dollars was less than a million, but still shows the financial investment gains available.

Two Rivergate units saw high profits, with sellers gaining $917,000 and $557,600 from their units. The large profit worked out as a 79% increase from the June 2005 selling price, while the smaller profit was a 23% increase based on the Oct 2006 price.

There have been cases where sellers have seen a multimillion dollar loss. On November 25, a seller saw a$2,8m loss on his property at the Ritz-Carlton Residences. This followed a $700,000 loss from the previous owner of the same unit!

Another Ritz-Carlton Residences unit saw a loss in March 2016. The seller saw a $4.27m loss, after his 8% Seller’s Stamp Duty due to the 2.8-year holding period was taken off. However, the largest loss percentage of that week was in a Mt. Sinai Residences unit, which saw a 35% drop in price. That was after the previous seller made a 55% profit in April 2012.

The MAS is warning all Singapore property buyers to remain prudent on their purchases. It’s important to keep diverse investments to avoid financial hardship.

Rental Income on the Decline

The MAS notes that rental income is on the decline and suggests that investors look out for signs because they struggle with their mortgages and loans on their investment properties. Fewer people are interested in renting and there are far more vacancies than ever before. Interest rates are also down, which isn’t helping matters.

Rising Political Risks

The problems with the growth in the rental investment industry are partially due to new policymaking. There are more political risks than before, making it harder to implement effective policies to tackle the issue. The idea of being financially stable through investment properties is at a high risk.

Avoid Stretching the Finances

There was a time that stretching the finances for property investments was common. There was a good chance of getting the rental income until loans were paid off. This is becoming less likely now. With more vacancies, investors are struggling to pay off their loans and the MAS is suggesting that those looking to invest in other properties consider cheaper housing and smaller loans. Avoid stretching the budget and make sure loans can be paid back even if nobody is renting the property.

Banks have buffers at the moment, but they are already taking steps to manage the decline in rentals. The MAS suggests that property investors should do the same and diversify their income streams.